diff --git a/cmd/kube-controller-manager/controller-manager.go b/cmd/kube-controller-manager/controller-manager.go
index ceb7e487e4b..884d1a8f8ea 100644
--- a/cmd/kube-controller-manager/controller-manager.go
+++ b/cmd/kube-controller-manager/controller-manager.go
@@ -22,20 +22,19 @@ package main
 
 import (
 	"flag"
-	"math"
 	"net"
 	"net/http"
 	"strconv"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/api"
+	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/api/resource"
 	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/client"
 	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/cloudprovider"
 	minionControllerPkg "github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/cloudprovider/controller"
 	replicationControllerPkg "github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/controller"
 	_ "github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/healthz"
 	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/master/ports"
-	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/resources"
 	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/service"
 	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/util"
 	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/version/verflag"
@@ -51,8 +50,9 @@ var (
 	minionRegexp    = flag.String("minion_regexp", "", "If non empty, and -cloud_provider is specified, a regular expression for matching minion VMs.")
 	machineList     util.StringList
 	// TODO: Discover these by pinging the host machines, and rip out these flags.
+	// TODO: in the meantime, use resource.QuantityFlag() instead of these
 	nodeMilliCPU = flag.Int64("node_milli_cpu", 1000, "The amount of MilliCPU provisioned on each node")
-	nodeMemory   = flag.Int64("node_memory", 3*1024*1024*1024, "The amount of memory (in bytes) provisioned on each node")
+	nodeMemory   = resource.QuantityFlag("node_memory", "3Gi", "The amount of memory (in bytes) provisioned on each node")
 )
 
 func init() {
@@ -90,18 +90,6 @@ func main() {
 		glog.Fatalf("Invalid API configuration: %v", err)
 	}
 
-	if int64(int(*nodeMilliCPU)) != *nodeMilliCPU {
-		glog.Warningf("node_milli_cpu is too big for platform. Clamping: %d -> %d",
-			*nodeMilliCPU, math.MaxInt32)
-		*nodeMilliCPU = math.MaxInt32
-	}
-
-	if int64(int(*nodeMemory)) != *nodeMemory {
-		glog.Warningf("node_memory is too big for platform. Clamping: %d -> %d",
-			*nodeMemory, math.MaxInt32)
-		*nodeMemory = math.MaxInt32
-	}
-
 	go http.ListenAndServe(net.JoinHostPort(address.String(), strconv.Itoa(*port)), nil)
 
 	endpoints := service.NewEndpointController(kubeClient)
@@ -113,8 +101,8 @@ func main() {
 	cloud := cloudprovider.InitCloudProvider(*cloudProvider, *cloudConfigFile)
 	nodeResources := &api.NodeResources{
 		Capacity: api.ResourceList{
-			resources.CPU:    util.NewIntOrStringFromInt(int(*nodeMilliCPU)),
-			resources.Memory: util.NewIntOrStringFromInt(int(*nodeMemory)),
+			api.ResourceCPU:    *resource.NewMilliQuantity(*nodeMilliCPU, resource.DecimalSI),
+			api.ResourceMemory: *nodeMemory,
 		},
 	}
 	minionController := minionControllerPkg.NewMinionController(cloud, *minionRegexp, machineList, nodeResources, kubeClient)
diff --git a/pkg/api/latest/latest_test.go b/pkg/api/latest/latest_test.go
index bedb8a1fcae..56ae1a26e50 100644
--- a/pkg/api/latest/latest_test.go
+++ b/pkg/api/latest/latest_test.go
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ package latest
 
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
-	"reflect"
 	"strconv"
 	"testing"
 
@@ -167,7 +166,7 @@ func TestInternalRoundTrip(t *testing.T) {
 			continue
 		}
 
-		if !reflect.DeepEqual(obj, actual) {
+		if !internal.Semantic.DeepEqual(obj, actual) {
 			t.Errorf("%s: diff %s", k, util.ObjectDiff(obj, actual))
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/api/resource/quantity.go b/pkg/api/resource/quantity.go
index 3b04fcd91c6..c92f47ff74a 100644
--- a/pkg/api/resource/quantity.go
+++ b/pkg/api/resource/quantity.go
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ var (
 	// The maximum value we can represent milli-units for.
 	// Compare with the return value of Quantity.Value() to
 	// see if it's safe to use Quantity.MilliValue().
-	MaxMilliValue = ((1 << 63) - 1) / 1000
+	MaxMilliValue = int64(((1 << 63) - 1) / 1000)
 )
 
 // ParseQuantity turns str into a Quantity, or returns an error.
diff --git a/pkg/api/v1beta1/conversion_test.go b/pkg/api/v1beta1/conversion_test.go
index 01fc2d170cd..a3a5a8cbed9 100644
--- a/pkg/api/v1beta1/conversion_test.go
+++ b/pkg/api/v1beta1/conversion_test.go
@@ -201,7 +201,7 @@ func TestMinionListConversionToNew(t *testing.T) {
 		if err != nil {
 			t.Errorf("Unexpected error: %v", err)
 		}
-		if e, a := item.newML, got; !reflect.DeepEqual(e, a) {
+		if e, a := item.newML, got; !newer.Semantic.DeepEqual(e, a) {
 			t.Errorf("Expected: %#v, got %#v", e, a)
 		}
 	}
@@ -234,7 +234,7 @@ func TestMinionListConversionToOld(t *testing.T) {
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Errorf("Unexpected error: %v", err)
 	}
-	if e, a := oldML, got; !reflect.DeepEqual(e, a) {
+	if e, a := oldML, got; !newer.Semantic.DeepEqual(e, a) {
 		t.Errorf("Expected: %#v, got %#v", e, a)
 	}
 }
diff --git a/pkg/cloudprovider/openstack/openstack.go b/pkg/cloudprovider/openstack/openstack.go
index f744b3b100b..f546b2baf40 100644
--- a/pkg/cloudprovider/openstack/openstack.go
+++ b/pkg/cloudprovider/openstack/openstack.go
@@ -36,8 +36,8 @@ import (
 	"github.com/rackspace/gophercloud/pagination"
 
 	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/api"
+	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/api/resource"
 	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/cloudprovider"
-	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/util"
 	"github.com/golang/glog"
 )
 
@@ -169,11 +169,11 @@ func (os *OpenStack) Instances() (cloudprovider.Instances, bool) {
 		for _, flavor := range flavorList {
 			rsrc := api.NodeResources{
 				Capacity: api.ResourceList{
-					"cpu":                      util.NewIntOrStringFromInt(flavor.VCPUs),
-					"memory":                   util.NewIntOrStringFromString(fmt.Sprintf("%dMiB", flavor.RAM)),
-					"openstack.org/disk":       util.NewIntOrStringFromString(fmt.Sprintf("%dGB", flavor.Disk)),
-					"openstack.org/rxTxFactor": util.NewIntOrStringFromInt(int(flavor.RxTxFactor * 1000)),
-					"openstack.org/swap":       util.NewIntOrStringFromString(fmt.Sprintf("%dMiB", flavor.Swap)),
+					api.ResourceCPU:            *resource.NewMilliQuantity(int64(flavor.VCPUs*1000), resource.DecimalSI),
+					api.ResourceMemory:         *resource.Q(fmt.Sprintf("%dMi", flavor.RAM)),
+					"openstack.org/disk":       *resource.Q(fmt.Sprintf("%dG", flavor.Disk)),
+					"openstack.org/rxTxFactor": *resource.NewQuantity(int64(flavor.RxTxFactor*1000), resource.DecimalSI),
+					"openstack.org/swap":       *resource.Q(fmt.Sprintf("%dMiB", flavor.Swap)),
 				},
 			}
 			flavor_to_resource[flavor.ID] = &rsrc
diff --git a/pkg/controller/replication_controller_test.go b/pkg/controller/replication_controller_test.go
index 21f17d768d5..d6fdd7f8780 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/replication_controller_test.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/replication_controller_test.go
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ import (
 	"net/http"
 	"net/http/httptest"
 	"path"
-	"reflect"
 	"sync"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
@@ -233,7 +232,7 @@ func TestCreateReplica(t *testing.T) {
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Errorf("Unexpected error: %#v", err)
 	}
-	if !reflect.DeepEqual(&expectedPod, actualPod) {
+	if !api.Semantic.DeepEqual(&expectedPod, actualPod) {
 		t.Logf("Body: %s", fakeHandler.RequestBody)
 		t.Errorf("Unexpected mismatch.  Expected\n %#v,\n Got:\n %#v", &expectedPod, actualPod)
 	}
@@ -345,7 +344,7 @@ func TestWatchControllers(t *testing.T) {
 	var testControllerSpec api.ReplicationController
 	received := make(chan struct{})
 	manager.syncHandler = func(controllerSpec api.ReplicationController) error {
-		if !reflect.DeepEqual(controllerSpec, testControllerSpec) {
+		if !api.Semantic.DeepEqual(controllerSpec, testControllerSpec) {
 			t.Errorf("Expected %#v, but got %#v", testControllerSpec, controllerSpec)
 		}
 		close(received)
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/config/config_test.go b/pkg/kubelet/config/config_test.go
index 245008f52d0..fdf7f9fed9f 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/config/config_test.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/config/config_test.go
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@ limitations under the License.
 package config
 
 import (
-	"reflect"
 	"sort"
 	"testing"
 
@@ -65,13 +64,7 @@ func CreateValidPod(name, namespace, source string) api.BoundPod {
 }
 
 func CreatePodUpdate(op kubelet.PodOperation, source string, pods ...api.BoundPod) kubelet.PodUpdate {
-	// We deliberately return an empty slice instead of a nil pointer here
-	// because reflect.DeepEqual differentiates between the two and we need to
-	// pick one for consistency.
 	newPods := make([]api.BoundPod, len(pods))
-	if len(pods) == 0 {
-		return kubelet.PodUpdate{newPods, op, source}
-	}
 	for i := range pods {
 		newPods[i] = pods[i]
 	}
@@ -89,7 +82,7 @@ func expectPodUpdate(t *testing.T, ch <-chan kubelet.PodUpdate, expected ...kube
 	for i := range expected {
 		update := <-ch
 		sort.Sort(sortedPods(update.Pods))
-		if !reflect.DeepEqual(expected[i], update) {
+		if !api.Semantic.DeepEqual(expected[i], update) {
 			t.Fatalf("Expected %#v, Got %#v", expected[i], update)
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/config/file_test.go b/pkg/kubelet/config/file_test.go
index 135bdea5467..3c9e2a3e4ee 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/config/file_test.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/config/file_test.go
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
-	"reflect"
 	"sort"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
@@ -130,7 +129,7 @@ func TestReadFromFile(t *testing.T) {
 				Containers: []api.Container{{Image: "test/image", TerminationMessagePath: "/dev/termination-log"}},
 			},
 		})
-		if !reflect.DeepEqual(expected, update) {
+		if !api.Semantic.DeepEqual(expected, update) {
 			t.Fatalf("Expected %#v, Got %#v", expected, update)
 		}
 
@@ -171,7 +170,7 @@ func TestExtractFromValidDataFile(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 	update := (<-ch).(kubelet.PodUpdate)
 	expected := CreatePodUpdate(kubelet.SET, kubelet.FileSource, expectedPod)
-	if !reflect.DeepEqual(expected, update) {
+	if !api.Semantic.DeepEqual(expected, update) {
 		t.Errorf("Expected %#v, Got %#v", expected, update)
 	}
 }
@@ -192,7 +191,7 @@ func TestExtractFromEmptyDir(t *testing.T) {
 
 	update := (<-ch).(kubelet.PodUpdate)
 	expected := CreatePodUpdate(kubelet.SET, kubelet.FileSource)
-	if !reflect.DeepEqual(expected, update) {
+	if !api.Semantic.DeepEqual(expected, update) {
 		t.Errorf("Expected %#v, Got %#v", expected, update)
 	}
 }
@@ -242,7 +241,7 @@ func TestExtractFromDir(t *testing.T) {
 	expected := CreatePodUpdate(kubelet.SET, kubelet.FileSource, pods...)
 	sort.Sort(sortedPods(update.Pods))
 	sort.Sort(sortedPods(expected.Pods))
-	if !reflect.DeepEqual(expected, update) {
+	if !api.Semantic.DeepEqual(expected, update) {
 		t.Fatalf("Expected %#v, Got %#v", expected, update)
 	}
 	for i := range update.Pods {
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/config/http_test.go b/pkg/kubelet/config/http_test.go
index a1c0b7d101b..016b70373fc 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/config/http_test.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/config/http_test.go
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ package config
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"net/http/httptest"
-	"reflect"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
@@ -193,7 +192,7 @@ func TestExtractFromHTTP(t *testing.T) {
 			continue
 		}
 		update := (<-ch).(kubelet.PodUpdate)
-		if !reflect.DeepEqual(testCase.expected, update) {
+		if !api.Semantic.DeepEqual(testCase.expected, update) {
 			t.Errorf("%s: Expected: %#v, Got: %#v", testCase.desc, testCase.expected, update)
 		}
 		for i := range update.Pods {
diff --git a/pkg/registry/controller/rest_test.go b/pkg/registry/controller/rest_test.go
index febe607f25d..585a956c0ce 100644
--- a/pkg/registry/controller/rest_test.go
+++ b/pkg/registry/controller/rest_test.go
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 	"io/ioutil"
-	"reflect"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
@@ -136,7 +135,7 @@ func TestControllerDecode(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("unexpected error: %v", err)
 	}
 
-	if !reflect.DeepEqual(controller, controllerOut) {
+	if !api.Semantic.DeepEqual(controller, controllerOut) {
 		t.Errorf("Expected %#v, found %#v", controller, controllerOut)
 	}
 }
@@ -208,7 +207,7 @@ func TestControllerParsing(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("unexpected error: %v", err)
 	}
 
-	if !reflect.DeepEqual(controller, expectedController) {
+	if !api.Semantic.DeepEqual(controller, expectedController) {
 		t.Errorf("Parsing failed: %s %#v %#v", string(data), controller, expectedController)
 	}
 }
@@ -375,7 +374,7 @@ func TestFillCurrentState(t *testing.T) {
 	if controller.Status.Replicas != 2 {
 		t.Errorf("expected 2, got: %d", controller.Status.Replicas)
 	}
-	if !reflect.DeepEqual(fakeLister.s, labels.Set(controller.Spec.Selector).AsSelector()) {
+	if !api.Semantic.DeepEqual(fakeLister.s, labels.Set(controller.Spec.Selector).AsSelector()) {
 		t.Errorf("unexpected output: %#v %#v", labels.Set(controller.Spec.Selector).AsSelector(), fakeLister.s)
 	}
 }
diff --git a/pkg/registry/etcd/etcd_test.go b/pkg/registry/etcd/etcd_test.go
index 6326b683df3..ef6647eb6b1 100644
--- a/pkg/registry/etcd/etcd_test.go
+++ b/pkg/registry/etcd/etcd_test.go
@@ -448,7 +448,7 @@ func TestEtcdUpdatePodNotScheduled(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 	var podOut api.Pod
 	latest.Codec.DecodeInto([]byte(response.Node.Value), &podOut)
-	if !reflect.DeepEqual(podOut, podIn) {
+	if !api.Semantic.DeepEqual(podOut, podIn) {
 		t.Errorf("expected: %v, got: %v", podOut, podIn)
 	}
 }
@@ -529,7 +529,7 @@ func TestEtcdUpdatePodScheduled(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 	var podOut api.Pod
 	latest.Codec.DecodeInto([]byte(response.Node.Value), &podOut)
-	if !reflect.DeepEqual(podOut, podIn) {
+	if !api.Semantic.DeepEqual(podOut, podIn) {
 		t.Errorf("expected: %#v, got: %#v", podOut, podIn)
 	}
 
@@ -542,7 +542,7 @@ func TestEtcdUpdatePodScheduled(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected error decoding response: %v", err)
 	}
 
-	if len(list.Items) != 2 || !reflect.DeepEqual(list.Items[0].Spec, podIn.Spec) {
+	if len(list.Items) != 2 || !api.Semantic.DeepEqual(list.Items[0].Spec, podIn.Spec) {
 		t.Errorf("unexpected container list: %d\n items[0] -   %#v\n podin.spec - %#v\n", len(list.Items), list.Items[0].Spec, podIn.Spec)
 	}
 }
diff --git a/pkg/standalone/standalone.go b/pkg/standalone/standalone.go
index b9af29ac77a..88edd9b3b6f 100644
--- a/pkg/standalone/standalone.go
+++ b/pkg/standalone/standalone.go
@@ -18,12 +18,12 @@ package standalone
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
-	"math"
 	"net"
 	"net/http"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/api"
+	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/api/resource"
 	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/apiserver"
 	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/client"
 	minionControllerPkg "github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/cloudprovider/controller"
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/kubelet/config"
 	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/kubelet/dockertools"
 	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/master"
-	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/resources"
 	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/service"
 	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/tools"
 	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/util"
@@ -99,22 +98,10 @@ func RunScheduler(cl *client.Client) {
 
 // RunControllerManager starts a controller
 func RunControllerManager(machineList []string, cl *client.Client, nodeMilliCPU, nodeMemory int64) {
-	if int64(int(nodeMilliCPU)) != nodeMilliCPU {
-		glog.Warningf("node_milli_cpu is too big for platform. Clamping: %d -> %d",
-			nodeMilliCPU, math.MaxInt32)
-		nodeMilliCPU = math.MaxInt32
-	}
-
-	if int64(int(nodeMemory)) != nodeMemory {
-		glog.Warningf("node_memory is too big for platform. Clamping: %d -> %d",
-			nodeMemory, math.MaxInt32)
-		nodeMemory = math.MaxInt32
-	}
-
 	nodeResources := &api.NodeResources{
 		Capacity: api.ResourceList{
-			resources.CPU:    util.NewIntOrStringFromInt(int(nodeMilliCPU)),
-			resources.Memory: util.NewIntOrStringFromInt(int(nodeMemory)),
+			api.ResourceCPU:    *resource.NewMilliQuantity(nodeMilliCPU, resource.DecimalSI),
+			api.ResourceMemory: *resource.NewQuantity(nodeMemory, resource.BinarySI),
 		},
 	}
 	minionController := minionControllerPkg.NewMinionController(nil, "", machineList, nodeResources, cl)